Friday 5 April 2013

Catching Robbie

A short afternoon on the plot today - it was windy but not too chilly (about 8°) and it had only got down to 0° last night. The sun didn't shine much - until we got home!

We dug some more of Plot 8b, but didn't get very far with it. In fact, most of the time I spent trying to get the robin to pose really close for a photo - not very successfully, so I resorted to using the zoom on my little camera instead!

I know this should be on my wildlife blog - but if I put any more pictures of robins on there I should rename it 'Robbie and Friends'!!

Jamie had read in Amateur Gardening magazine that grass cuttings make a good mulch for raspberries, so I have covered all the manure round ours with clippings which Ted produced from his mowing yesterday. The cuttings should just rot down and will keep the raspberry roots nice and wet.

Talking of fruit, our strawberries are still hiding in their holes in the weed suppressant, but there are signs of new life on each plant.
 

Thursday 4 April 2013

Organ Donation - Please Sign Up!

Five years ago today at 4:50am I got a telephone call from the Organ donation team at the Churchill Hospital. They had a kidney which may be suitable for me. This was the third time I'd received the call during my four years on haemodialysis.
Jamie and I got to the hospital as quickly as possible. I had an x-ray, a myriad of blood tests and various other tests to be sure that I would be healthy enough to receive the transplant.
I had a final dialysis session in the afternoon and then tried to sleep as the operation wasn't going to happen till later in the evening. I went down to the operating theatre at about 11pm. The next thing I remember was waking back in my room; full of tubes and exhausted. Only then did I know for sure that the transplant had gone ahead!

My kidney didn't start working straight away, so unfortunately that wasn't my final dialysis session. I was allowed home a week after the operation but had to return to the Churchill initially daily and then every couple of days.

In all the time I was ill, the 4 weeks after the operation was the worst time. Every visit to the Churchill involved a blood test; a wait for the result and then the massive disappointment when I saw that the results weren't good so I had to have another 4 hour dialysis session. Then I needed a blood transfusion - I was depressed as I felt I was worse off after the transplant.

However, after 4 weeks, the results began to improve a bit. I didn't need dialysis but did need to be careful with my diet and drink plenty - hard after being on restricted fluids for 4 years.

Within 3 months I was feeling reasonably normal and only visiting the hospital every weeks. I returned to work 4 months after my transplant. Within 6 months the appreciation of the transplant really kicked in. From then on I realised exactly how much better my life is without dialysis.

I continue to see my consultant every two/three months and my kidney function remains stable. I met someone at the hospital the other day who has had their kidney for 37 years, so I'm fully expecting mine to keep me going for a long time yet!

Thank you organ donors and the NHS - I know where I'd be without you!

Organ Donation Community

 

Wednesday 3 April 2013

Plot 8 - the backbreaker!

How lucky we've been with the weather so far during this week off work! It was blowing a bitterly cold North-Easterly wind but again there was some nice warming sunshine (7° while we were working).

We were digging Plot 8 - such hard work compared to Plot 7, which has now been dug and dug again for three years. Plot 8 hasn't had quite such loving care and attention!
Look at all those stones and a bucketful of weeds from just a small area. And that took us about two hours #groan

Peeped under the netting at the Aqua Dulce broad beans which were sowed at the end of October. They're looking pretty good and looking at this photo is that a sign of a flower bud in the background?? I don't think they're meant to be dwarf variety!

Tuesday 2 April 2013

Readying for Runners

Another lovely few hours on the allotment today. It was mostly sunny, though the wind was chilly, so we needed to keep busy or at least sit in the sunshine! The temperature last night was -2° but finally reached double figures today 10° while we were on the plot - it's getting there, slowly...
The first thing we did was dig circular trenches for our runner bean wigwams.




We put 2 bags of mushroom compost in each trench. We have two types of runners this year: Scarlet Empire and a white-flowered variety which we were given by a fellow plotholder last year.

While Jamie dug over the rest of the bean quarter, I piled manure round the raspberry bushes as a healthy mulch. I covered the area where the fennel is going with black plastic to try to warm the ground a bit. Also managed to square off the dug area on Plot 8a, still a lot do be sorted on plot8b though...
Panorama of Plot 7 - Three Quarters ready...
Spotted this pheasant clearing up one of the empty plots near us - there's nothing for him on our plots at the moment. I've updated the wildlife blog too.

 

Monday 1 April 2013

Riddling for Carrots

The clocks changed last night for British Summer Time - should have been one hour less in bed but I'm pleased to say it didn't turn out that way! Well, I'm on holiday for a week, so we're taking it easy
:-)

That wasn't the case when we eventually got to the plot though. We were riddling the earth for the carrot trench; mixing in seed compost as we riddled. It's tiring doing it and it's a relief when you reach the end but it's pleasing. The seived earth is so lovely and free-flowing.
The carrot patch is filled and ready for our little seeds once the weather improves a bit. It's about 15cm deep so that we'll get nice straight carrots - well, that's the plan! We'll probably sow 3 rows and can eat the thinnings as salad carrots - we've got a super-sweet variety for this year.


Don't worry, there's no-one buried down there!


Here's a (very) short video showing how lovely the soil is - a bit of Zen gardening going on. With the Easter church bells in the background for good measure!

 

We also prepared a row for our parsnips. The carrots and parsnips are going in the onion quarter with some marigolds this year. We'll cover the carrots with enviromesh but are hoping the parsnips will be protected from the carrot fly by the marigolds and the onion smell..

We left after 6pm, so nice that we'll have longer evenings to get on the plot now. It was still reasonably sunny but still cold - about 6°. It was -4° last night :-(